AfricaPress-Tanzania: THE government is updating its education systems into a skills-driven format in attempts to respond to the unemployment rate and the country’s 2025 development vision, the National Assembly heard on Friday.
Education, Science and Technology Minister Prof Joyce Ndalichako said reforms of the education system started with the basic education as the state increased the training period of early education teachers from two to three years. In 2019, the unemployment rate in Tanzania was approximately 1.91 per cent.
“We have been conducting regular reforms depending on professional evaluation that are conducted periodically,” she said in response to a question from Special Seats MP Ms Zainabu Katimba (CCM).
The lawmaker had earlier asked what the government’s strategy to reform the education system was.
The minister explained that other reforms include the popular free-education system covering early education to ordinary level secondary education.
“In addition to these changes, the government is improving the quality of education to be more of competence-based education,” she noted.
Prof Ndalichako says the reforms are being implemented parallel with the review of school curricular across all levels.
Citing the vocational training education, she explained that the State had formulated skilled-sectoral councils to link up stakeholders with vocational training institutions, employees and industries.
“The councils are in charge of studying and updating all teaching curricular to correspond with specific needs in the industry,” she added, adding that some programmes had been adopted for tertiary level education to fill the gap of needed skilled force at national, regional and international levels.
According to the minister, the government has further developed incubational centres to handle innovative ideas that have to be nurtured.
“All these changes focus on strengthening the proficiency of all the graduates, for them to be selfemployed or secure employment within and outside the country,” she said.
